Dell Publishing began producing pulp magazines and comics as far back as
1929. In 1938 they reached an agreement with Western Printing, which held
the rights to do new stories based on characters from other media, allowing
Dell to do comic books on them. During this time Dell produced only a couple
of titles that could be considered superhero comics, including the Owl, Brain
Boy and Turok, Son of Stone. Then in 1962 Western launched its own comic
book line, Gold Key, and took its licensed characters away from Dell (they
also took Turok, which was an original series). This left Dell bereft of
most of its line, shaking the company badly. They did make at least a partial
recovery, and in 1966 briefly tried again with superheroes, using the famous
monsters Dracula, Frankenstein and Werewolf as the basis for new characters,
as well as their own creation, Nukla - none of them took. In a market
increasingly dominated by superheroes, the company found itself struggling,
and in 1973, Dell, formerly the largest of all the comic publishers, ceased
publication.

Meanwhile, from 1962 Gold Key set out to find its niche in the market. They
soon established themselves publishing titles based on Disney and Warner
Bros characters, as well as adaptions of series like Star Trek (the
first comic based on this show) and the comic book version of King Features'
The Phantom. On the superhero front they had three notable titles - Magnus,
Robot Fighter; Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom; and the aforementioned Turok,
Son of Stone; one less notable one, the Mighty Samson; and a brief revival
of the Owl. While popular for a while, they all eventually ceased publication.
The downturn in comic sales which had hit the entire industry in the late
seventies hit Gold Key especially hard; they carried on into the mid-eighties,
but eventually yielded to the inevitable and stopped production. (For more
in-depth information on the history of both these companies check out
Don Markstein's Toonopedia).